The games of the 4th round of international chess tournament in Gibraltar will take place today.
Levon Aronian, representing Armenia, will compete with Iran’s Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and Hrant Melkumyan will compete with India’s Bharathakoti Harsha.
The matches will start at 18:00. Chess fans can follow the games on our website below.
In front of the government building, a group of street traders complained about the decision of the city authorities to ban street trades. Anush Hayrapetyan, who has sold toys and balloons in Republic Square for many years, is no longer working since September.
“Government officials have promised us that they will give us a suitable place, after which only they would ban us to sell here.”
Merchants have even opened private businesses to be able to continue their work, but they have not been allowed to work for a long time.
“The Prime Minister’s decree is to ban the street trade,” said another merchant Gayane Arshakyan. According to her, their work was seasonal and it was connected with fountains, they were working only for 2 hours a day.
“We do not earn millions, we work to survive the day,” said one of the participants.
Civic activist Vardges Gaspari also participates in the demonstration. He thinks that the resignation of Artur Grigoryan from the post of the head of the Inspectorate of Nature Protection and Inspection is unacceptable. According to him, the government has to explain why Arthur Grigoryan was dismissed. The activist thinks that he has been dismissed because of different approaches. According to him, this move of the government is similar to the behavior of the Armenian Pan National Movement.
As a backdrop to the disheartening anti-immigration rhetoric, let’s reflect on the enormous contribution of newcomers to Canada
Having observed the jarring debates over immigrants in Brexit Britain and border walls in the United States, I found myself reflecting on how differently Canadians are responding to their own border crisis.
Is there a crisis?
It depends who you talk to, but yes, even Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledges there’s a difficulty, particularly in the area of refugees entering Canada from the U.S. illegally through unofficial ports of entry.
And although he could stem the flow with a simple order in council, the prime minister, like many other Canadians, is somewhat unconcerned. “We have extremely low unemployment … it is a good time to reflect that we are bringing in immigrants who are going to keep our economy growing,” Trudeau has said.
Although there’s a growing backlash, it’s important to remember that Canada is a special country in the eyes of the world. We Canadians have a well-earned reputation for welcoming newcomers and embracing diversity.
Indeed, one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century, the photography legend Yousuf Karsh (1908 to 2002), is a classic example of how unique and special Canada truly is.
Here are his impressions of arriving in Canada, cold and alone as a youngster almost a century ago:
“On the stormy New Year’s Eve of 1924, the liner Versailles reached Halifax from Beirut. Her most excited passenger in the steerage class must have been an Armenian boy of 16 who spoke little French and less English. I was that boy. …
“For the moment it was enough to find myself safe in Canada, the massacres, torture and the heartbreak of Armenia behind me; to feel, even then, that I was coming home.”
These are stirring turns of phrase given the difficulties this young boy faced in escaping the horrors of genocide and the obvious challenges he would continue to face as a stranger in Canada.
The fact that Karsh felt at home so immediately speaks to a special quality of Canadian officialdom: never at a loss when it comes to completing their paperwork, these Canadian bureaucrats are a beacon of light compared with most border officials.
That young boy not only adjusted to his new country, he thrived. He became, in time, one of the most famous artists of the 20th century. Karsh was an international sensation, producing iconic photo portraits of world figures during and after the Second World War.
Speaking about his most memorable portrait, that of Britain’s wartime leader Winston Churchill, he said: “It was Mackenzie King who made it possible for me to photograph Winston Churchill in December 1941, after the great wartime leader addressed the combined Houses of Parliament in Ottawa. The world’s reception of that photograph – which it was said epitomized the indomitable spirit of the British people – changed my life.”
But his international fame never diminished his love and appreciation for his adoptive homeland.
“Never, in all those years, have I been tempted to live anywhere except in the country and among the people who first welcomed me as one of their own. During the next half-century, this feeling was continually reaffirmed so that now (1978), with thanks inexpressible, I consider myself an old Canadian.”
From such humble beginnings, it’s almost impossible not to feel a sense of pride in the accomplishments of Karsh, the foundations of which were laid in Canada and soon spread around the world.
Yes, Canada is a land of immigrants and the fears and traumas of the newcomer have embedded themselves into the DNA of many Canadian families. There are experiences that are reflected in the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.
As a backdrop to the disheartening rhetoric of fear and blame that populates the immigration debate today, particularly in the United States, perhaps it’s time to think of the enormous contribution newcomers of all backgrounds have made to this country.
And perhaps we should give ourselves a pat on the back for being open, inclusive and generous when so many people around the world face lives of abject misery while we have the capacity and opportunity to help.
Let us never lose that unique compassionate quality of being Canadian.
Robert McGarvey is chief strategist for Troy Media Digital Solutions Ltd., an economic historian and former managing director of Merlin Consulting, a London, U.K.-based consulting firm. Robert’s most recent book is Futuromics: A Guide to Thriving in Capitalism’s Third Wave.
Parajanov With Sarkis exhibition at Istanbul’s Pera Museum presents versatile world of Armenian maestro
10:10, 9 January, 2019
YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. An exhibition honoring renowned Armenian film director and artist Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) is open for visitors since December 12 at the Pera Museum of Istanbul, Turkey.
The exhibition was opened on the occasion of Parajanov’s 95th anniversary of birth.
Zaven Sargsyan, the Director of the Sergei Parajanov Museum of Yerevan, Armenia, told ARMENPRESS that the Istanbul exhibition was initiated by the owners of the Pera Museum, and the Armenia museum sent 75 exhibits for the event.
The exhibition will run until March 17, 2019.
Sargsyan says the Parajanov exhibition in the Pera Museum is the largest and most significant in the past 30 years.
He says this is also the first time that an exhibition is being opened in Istanbul with exhibits from an Armenian state museum.
The exhibition is titled Parajanov With Sarkis, and features works exclusively created in homage to Parajanov by Sarkis, another master artist who passionately followed him.
Pera Museum presents for the first time in Turkey a selection that brings together all periods of the versatile, multicultural visual world of renowned director Sergey Parajanov, master of poetic cinema. Featuring many works across a wide spectrum ranging in style from the traditional to pop-art, from strikingly unique collages to storyboard drafts, from film costumes to drawings, paintings, mosaics, objects and photographs, the exhibition sheds light on the brilliant and fertile world of the artist.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
PM, president and other officials visit Yerablur military cemetery to honor the fallen
11:24,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, accompanied by President Armen Sarkissian, outgoing Speaker of Parliament Ara Babloyan, Catholicos Garegin II and other top officials visited today the Yerablur Military Pantheon to pay tribute to the memory of the fallen who sacrificed their lives for the country’s independence, the government’s press service said.
Pashinyan laid flowers at the graves of Sparapet Vazgen Sargsyan, Andranik Ozanyan, Arayik Khandoyan, and a wreath at the memorial in honor of fallen paramilitary.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, December 28. /ARKA/. Strategic essence and content of the Collective Security Treaty Organization were briefly discussed at the meeting between Armenian Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pashinyan said Thursday night in his live address to Armenian people on his Facebook page upon his return from Moscow.
“Our stance is that we need institutional solutions here to make in the CSTO regulations the amendments foreseeing such situations for avoiding such disputes caused by the lack of coordination,” Pashinyan said.
The turmoil in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was triggered by Armenia’s decision in early November to recall Yuri Khachaturov, a former chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, who had been serving as CSTO secretary general. In Armenia Khachaturov had been charged with involvement in the violent crackdown on the opposition in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election in 2008. Armenia insists that the position should be held by its representative until the end of Khachaturov’s term, which ends in mid 2019.
During a November 8 CSTO summit in Astana, Kazakhstan and Belarus insisted that the rotating position be handed to Belarus, which is next in the list of the countries to assume the position by alphabetical order. -0—
ArmInfo. Aceing Minister of Justice of Armenia Artak Zeynalyan visited Nairi Hunanyan in the penitentiary institution, convicted in the case of the terrorist act in the Armenian parliament on October 27, 1999. Zeynalyan told this to the journalists on December 17th.
According to him, he was interested in the state of Hunanyan. "I do not want to disclose details, but I can only say that I advised him to go in for sports more," said Zeynalyan.
To note, on October 27, 1999, a group of persons led by Nairi Hunanyan, burst into parliament, shot Prime Minister of Armenia Vazgen Sargsyan, Speaker of the National Assembly Karen Demirchyan, Deputy Speakers Yuri Bakhshyan and Ruben Miroyan, Minister of Operational Affairs Leonard Petrosyan and MPs Armenak Armenakyan, Mikael Kotanyan and Henrik Abrahamyan. The terrorist group included former journalist Nairi Hunanyan, his brother Karen Hunanyan, their uncle Vram Galstyan, as well as Derenik Bedzhanyan and Ashot Knyazyan. Their trial began on February 15, 2001 and lasted for three years.
Neither the preliminary investigation, nor the proceedings in court allowed to give a final answer to the question of whether the terrorists acted on their own, or someone was behind them. On December 2, 2003, the Center-Nork-Marash Court of First Instance sentenced the brothers Nairi and Karen Hunanyan, Edik Grigoryan, Vram Galstian (in 2004, he died in prison, according to the official version, committed suicide), Derenik Bedjanian and Ashot Khozyan had to live by suicide; Hamlet Stepanyan was sentenced to 14 years in prison (In May 2010, his body was found in his bed in the Nubarashen penal institution). All seven were found guilty of treason and terrorism. The Court of Cassation of Armenia upheld the sentence.
YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law) Party (RLP) Chairman Arthur Baghdasaryan is leaving active politics, stepping down as party leader, and terminating his party activities.
This political force has issued a respective statement, in which it is noted that the RLP on Saturday convened a special congress, which acknowledged Baghdasaryan’s statement on concluding his duties as Orinats Yerkir Party leader.
In his statement, Arthur Baghdasaryan noted that, from now on, he will be engaged in public activity and endeavor to contribute to resolving the problems in Armenia.
Baghdasaryan added that he will return to active politics solely at the people’s wishes, and when he senses its need and necessity.
Subsequently, the RLP congress nominated and unanimously elected Hovhannes Hovhannisyan as the new chairman of this party.